Hitler's Anti-Semitism Still Alive and Kicking in Europe

By Dr. Chuck Missler
Koinonia House

An original diatribe against the Jews written by Adolph Hitler himself is due to be unveiled at New York's Simon Wiesenthal Center in July. The Gemlich letter, named for the man to whom it was sent in 1919, is considered Hitler's first known anti-Semitic writing. The document's revelation comes at a time when anti-Semitism is once again sliding through Europe, hissing in ways that are hardly harmless.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism and stands with Israel and the Jewish people around the globe, paid $150,000 for what is believed to be Hitler's first anti-Semitic discourse – signed and everything. In the Gemlich letter, Hitler accuses the Jews of being an alien race involved in the unscrupulous pursuit of money and power. He advocates legislation against them, the ultimate objective of which must be "the irrevocable removal of the Jews in general."

We thought that we had dealt with anti-Semitism after the horror of the Holocaust, but the distrust of the Jews never fully left Europe, and with the influx of Muslims into Europe, anti-Semitism has once again raised up like a cobra, hood flaring.

The Corfu synagogue was burned in Greece on April 19, one of three synagogues destroyed in that country within the past year. Anti-Semitic slogans are often scrawled on walls around the country. Greece hasn't been doing well financially, and it seems that once again the Jews are some people's convenient scapegoat for the financial – and other - problems of a nation.

Finnish Parliamentary Speaker Ben Zyskowicz, the only Jewish member of the Finnish parliament, was battered with anti-Semitic verbiage last week in Helsinki. Zyskowicz refused to press charges, calling Finland a "fantastic country" and saying he hoped his attacker would wake up the next morning and "and contemplate his actions."

A year ago, The Telegraph reported that the city of Amsterdam had taken to dressing up undercover cops as Jews in order to discourage physical and verbal attacks on the Jewish population. According to local reports, "Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighbourhoods often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even attacked."

Sociologist Mark Elchardus was sued recently by The Vigilance Musulmane advocacy group because of comments he made in the De Morgen newspaper about the rising anti-Semitism among young Muslims in Brussels. He spent a portion of his 426 page report 'Jong In Brussel' linking anti-Semitic sentiments to the religious convictions of young Muslims. The English translation of Elchardus' news comments, courtesy of Vlad Tepes blog, states, "Worrying is that half of Muslim students can be described as anti-Semitic...Worse, the anti-Jewish feelings have nothing to do with a low educational or social disadvantage, as is the case with racist natives. It is theologically inspired anti-Semitism."

A study released May 30th offers the results of face-to-face interviews with 1,270 Jews aged 18-60 living in several urban centers in Central Europe, including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Latvia. While most of the respondents were content in their home countries in post-Communist Europe, there was still concern about anti-Semitism. A full 77 percent of the Jews interviewed in Hungary agreed that Europe "is a safe place for Jews to live", but only 57 percent in Latvia; 59 percent in Poland; 61 percent in Romania; and 67 percent in Bulgaria agreed with the statement. That means, for example, 41 percent of Polish Jews and one-third of Bulgarian Jews sense some danger because they are Jewish.

University of Paris professor Guy Milliére wrote for Aish.com on May 28:

"Jews now, in fact, have to be streetwise in all European countries: men wearing a skullcap usually hide it under a hat or a cap. Owners of kosher restaurants located on avenues where protests are organized close their facilities before the arrival of the participants - even if the protest is about wages or retirement age. They know too well that among the demonstrators, there will always be some who will express their rage at the sight of a Jewish name or a star of David on a store front. In Paris, on Labor Day, May 1st, in front of a Jewish café on Avenue of the Republic, several hundred demonstrators stopped and began to boo 'Jews' and 'Zionists.' A man coming out of the café was assaulted until police officers arrived on the scene."

This is not to say that all Europeans or Muslims are racist. Of course not. Seventy-seven percent of Hungarians still feel Europe is a safe place for Jews, after all. Yet, there is a less-than-amiable attitude toward Jews in certain parts of the Continent. A survey conducted last year for the Friederich Ebert Foundation asked the question: "Do you think that Jews abuse their status as victims of Nazism?" It found that 72.2 percent of those responding in Poland said, "Yes." A full 48 percent in Germany, 40.2 percent in Italy, and 32.3 percent in France agreed that Jews made too much of the Holocaust.

Right now, Holocaust survivors still breathe and speak to remind us of the jam-packed cattle cars, the dehumanization, starvation and, foul smoke rising from furnaces. The percentages may look even worse when there is no longer anybody alive who was there to say, "Excuse me! My parents were slaughtered in front of me! We can't let this sort of thing ever happen again!"

Hitler's first document on the Jews will be available for viewing in New York in July. It is frightening that 66 years after WWII, Jews are still considered unwelcome aliens that need to be eradicated, not just in the Middle East, but in supposedly tolerant, culturally pluralistic Europe as well.

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